Amazing is a slight exaggeration.

Forgiveness is not a rational choice. Emotions are what cause us to waver in our beliefs, to brush aside a questionable act from a loved one or to put blinders on when the truth overwhelms us. The idea of forgiveness is endemic to what The Amazing-Spider 2 is. Peter Parker is a grounded guy despite his extraordinary powers, and his innate relatability makes him likable. The way he insults his enemies while knocking their heads together, and makes wry observations while swinging through the city, have always made me laugh. But I find it hard to accept his morally challenged choices. Is it all right for him to beat the stuffing out of ordinary criminals considering how much stronger he is? To steal information from a police officer's laptop or bug wireless towers to spy on citizens? At what point does Spider-Man stop fighting for the greater good and start becoming a menace in his own right?

Such questions are never answered in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. But the question of forgiveness stayed with me throughout the adventure, and not just in regard to Spidey's questionable acts, either. You see, to enjoy the game, you have to forgive it for its many problems. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is as flawed as its sure-headed protagonist, equal parts enjoyable and aggravating, which made my feelings waver as I smacked down evil-minded foes in the well-realized Manhattan that Peter Parker calls home.

Spider-Man is at his best when he's soaring above the congested streets of New York. Firing webbing at skyscrapers creates an incredible sense of locomotion in part because of how well it represents the way I imagine it would feel to be in Spider-Man's tights. By independently shooting webs out of each hand, you guide yourself around buildings with speed and precision, and once you're accustomed to the rhythm of movement, you can deftly scoot around corners without breaking a sweat. When there aren't any buildings, you fall to the ground, which is a little restrictive, but made me choose my path smartly. I didn't want to be stuck walking like a sucker. Still, movement only has that freeing rush when you're not acting with a purpose. When I would stop to collect a floating comic book, or try to wall-run up the side of a skyscraper, I would often clip through surfaces as the camera jittered and shook. Such problems broke my immersion in a snap.

At what point does Spider-Man stop fighting for the greater good and start becoming a menace in his own right?

There's similar problems in the combat. Spider-Man spends a lot of time fighting enemies, and much of it is blandly enjoyable. It's easy enough to latch on to faraway enemies, pulling yourself toward them in a frenetic burst of violence as you teach them the follies of their ways with your fists. Dodging enemy attacks and retaliating with incredible force makes you feel like the purveyor of justice Spider-Man wants to be, and there were times when I was caught in the simple pleasure of making digital people squeal with pain. But it is very simple, and after a while it becomes too predictable for its own good. Combat is closer to an elaborate quick-time event than a test of skill. Attack when your foe's guard is down, dodge when he flashes red, and repeat until everyone is squirming at your feet.

Cops don't mind when you photograph their laptops, right?

Granted, such simplicity exists in boss fights as well, but those battles do demonstrate how interesting this system can be when the challenge is ratcheted up. Squaring off against the lightning-fast Black Cat, who hides in the shadows and then strikes with sadistic glee, tested my reflexes and my hunting ability. And then there's the markedly different showdown against Kingpin, who's so fat he was arrested for having 10 pounds of crack...butt crack (at least according to Spider-Man). This was a fight of endurance as I had to withstand the attacks of his henchmen while avoiding his rumbling charges. As I punched Kingpin, he would ask questions that made me even more leery of my actions. Why does Spider-Man spend so much time fighting petty thieves when there are real villains out there?

Villainy is one of the major framing devices in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The city views you as either a hero or a villain based on how much crime exists, so you must stop the many evildoers to keep everyone happy. To do so, you complete side missions, such as rescuing people from burning buildings, stopping high-speed chases, and fighting street toughs. Measuring how much the city trusts you is a good idea, and does compel you to keep the streets clean, but in practice, it feels artificial and pointless. Is all of Manhattan really going to hate me because of one robbery? Or swing their allegiance when I do public good once more? Are they really so fickle?

At first, I did complete every side mission, because I am a completionist. It didn't take long for me to stop. The side missions aren't remotely fun, so spending hours doing the same few tasks over and over sounded like a penance I didn't deserve. Squaring off against ordinary toughs in optional fights when I have to do so much of that in story missions just isn't appealing. And navigating smoke-filled buildings highlights how clumsy Spider-Man is in enclosed spaces. But the thing that made me turn my back completely on side missions is how the story plays out. No matter how much good you bring to the city, you're invariably painted as a villain, so it wasn't worth pleasing people to begin with. If the people of New York can't appreciate me, then they can deal with their own problems.

Spider-Man isn't the stealthiest superhero around.

There are definitely issues that go deeper than mere annoyance. But there are still enough bright spots that I enjoyed my time with the game. Spider-Man is well developed, carrying his trademark snark like a torch, and I laughed frequently at his many jokes. Yeah, listening to the same few phrases repeated over and over again got a little much, but I appreciated the happy vibe of the game. Plus, there are tons of goodies to examine. I don't read comics in real life, but I did flip through one here, and it was nice finding out a little more about Uncle Ben before he cooked his last pot of rice. And there are figures to gaze at in the comic book stores complete with biographies about the characters. Immersing myself in all things Spider-Man for a few days made me smile, and the game does a great job of bringing the characters to life.

The biggest failing of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is how familiar it feels. In fact, there have been other open-world games starring Spider-Man that walk a remarkably similar path. So there weren't many surprises, nothing that jumped out and made me take notice. Still, being able to spend time with Spider-Man was enough for me to stomach the various problems, just because he's a fun character to listen to. There's nothing majorly wrong with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, after all. There's just not a lot right with it, either.

About the Author

Tom spent his Saturday mornings in his youth watching the Spider-Man cartoon, though he's never read a comic book. He's not embarrassed by that fact. It took him more than 15 hours to bring peace to Manhattan.

More GameSpot Reviews

heres the thing i noticed with movie video games they either take place during after or before i liked shattered dimensions but i feel like benox is tied down now i would love to see a spiderman 2099 game but that wont happen i think beenox well be tied down i.e before during or after movie video game tie ins

Look guys, if we want Spiderman to be back on top, then why not Beenox
get help from Rocksteady Studios from the Batman games to make a better
and improved version of the next Spiderman game. And for the movies, why
can't Sony and Marvel/Disney work together to make a really good
Spiderman movie. JEEZ!﻿ The Amazing Spider Man 2 Steam

I have been waiting for this game the way some of you out there await the new call of duty, desperately counting the days until I could once again swing around New York as everyone's favorite web-head. Web-Swinging is fun again and the new stealthy approach follows Batman Arkhamsfootsteps. Gameplay is wise this game rocks.

Amazing Spiderman not a Amazing game since not next gen game and its Amazing Activevision dont know how to make a next gen game and again if not doing nothing to crash banicoot games sale back to sony.

@Hvac0120 Nope, even @ your $25 price tag, I'd still think that was too much. I'd say $9.99 is the right price for this game. This game belongs on a ps3. Bargain Bin - The Amazing Spiderman2 Bargain Bin -

The only good spiderman movie games that are good in my opinion are spiderman 1 and 2 (those 2 games were fantastic) and even though ultimate spiderman isn't a movie game that game was still pretty great.

Another powerful man who bends the rules? He's not listening to phone sex, he's obviously trying to find someone. Are you serious? More offensive is the same beat-em-up animations. No innovation, redundant mini missions, and generally, he's still swinging from mid air. For a PS4 title, 1080p beast mode machine, this still kinda looks like a high res Xbox 360 title.

What I can't understand is the downgrade in combat. In the first Amazing Spider-Man game you got various moves (sometimes overpowered) that allowed you to vary up combat. You could do these web tornadoes and stealth take down multiple enemies in this one I feel like I'm button mashing the square button because there are no other options. Why is that? Why did they strip out some of the things that made the ASM so amazing???

@Latiran Have you even played the game? In my opinion, 5 was more than generous. I bought this game in the hopes that a Beenox-designed open world game would play at least as well as the original Spider-Man 2. Not only is it significantly worse, but the graphics would largely be considered substandard against most 360 and PS3 "last gen" releases.

The game is insultingly bad, and the fun of traversal wears off in minutes. There are only 14 campaign missions, and no less than 5 of them are little more than tutorials.

Appreciate honest reviews. If you're just looking for someone to sell you on a game by "look(ing) at the positives" just talk to a sales associate.

@fragsnipa@Latiran@misternathanI wont judge you for liking a bad game, but a bad game will remain bad, and even worse based on a movie that will make die hard spiderman fans stop being spiderman fans to forget the horror.

@PETERAKO Well i'm glad to hear you won't judge me based on what i like and what you don't. Also the definition of bad for you might me ok for somebody else so yeah it all comes to personal preference or taste.

@Latiran@misternathanNot trying to knock your opinion or anything, but IGN is notorious for being overly generous in their rating system. A 5 is fair in this case. The review scores for videogames are already skewed enough as it is that a 7 is considered a "bad" game.

It's fine if you like the game, but I think the score here represents what the majority of us think about it; not a horrible game, and not a good game either.

@Latiran Honestly this game was far from being great, but some of the things that I appreciated about it was that it strayed from the storyline of the movie it was based on rather than being chained to what happened in the movie. I think that it could've even ended up being good if it wasn't rushed to coincide with the release of the movie and they polished the combat mechanics, graphics, camera, the amount of lines that spidey repeats (why is he saying the same lines in a boss fight that he says to regular thugs?!?), etc.

I still liked it though, and the interaction between spidey and the black cat makes me hope Felicia will be in costume for the next movie ;) .

@Latiran@PETERAKO you're a fucking hipocrit latiran. you moan that theres too many negative reviews here and want them to look more at the positives for ASM2 but you acknowledge that one person might hate a game where another likes it? obviously this reviewer was one of the people who DIDN'T LIKE IT SO MUCH and every reviewer is going to be giving their personal and professional opinion. the general consensus here is that ASM2 as a game is average at best and to me as a spider-man fan i can tell you i won't be buying it because it looks garbage. i'm not usually one to knock a games graphics but they look AWFUL in ASM2 for a current gen game and could be mistaken for a 360/ps3 launch title. the combat is inexcusably sub-par and people have said its worse than ASM1. camera-bad, story and side missions-bad. game = bad

They should have tailored the arkham combat style to the spider man game play and not just blatantly copy and paste it over. It just doesn't feel like it fits the game. Also some type of lock on system would have been very appreciated. The fact that I need to swing my camera around and aim for a specific target with a dot while I'm being shot at from all over and dodging enemies surrounding me is just not helping the game play. I agree with pretty much everything in the article. The animation is bad. like 2001 game outdated bad. They also seem to mimic Garfield's way of moving when he's talking to people in his spidey suit in the movies. This wouldn't be so much of a problem however if the voice actor totally wasn't not trying to sound like Garfield. So in the end result you get a character that just doesn't match with the voice actor. And this to me was evident throughout the game. At no point did it feel like the voice and character where one and the same entity.

This is definitely the weakest Spider-Man game we've seen a while. Poorly implemented combat mechanics that were clearly swiped from the Arkham series. Poorly implemented stealth mechanics, also clearly swiped from the Arkham series. Poorly implemented web-slinging mechanics that make navigation too often frustrating. Absolutely abysmal storytelling with horrendous animations, writing, and voice-acting. Skill progression that feels utterly meaningless. Tacked on collectable hunting. And little to no variety in mission types and experiences. It's a huge step backwards.

This game could have been so much more-blah blah. I've come to notice that many gamers (meself included at times) are placing too much hope for the most top quality graphics with whichever game comes next. In my humble, newfound opinion...graphics, while somewhat important don't mean squat. I really believe that this game would have been much better if they could have just nailed some solid gameplay. That was a crucial benefit to the Arkham series. Cash-grabs are inevitable of course, sad but true. Maybe for the next Spidey game the producers will at least attempt to honestly create a quality game. It may take time and effort but I assure them the investment would pay off greatly.

Spiderman game rules

1. Open world

2. Blind web-swing cornering so you won't always have to look in general direction and you can keep focus on moving target unless it goes out of range or something.

3. Sharp wit

4. Attention to physics because even Spiderman can fall too far. The tuck n' roll landing looks silly when you leap/fall off a building. (Hey dummies, Spidey can web together a parachute if the fall is too far, one would assume)

5. Detailed storyline with small additions gradually to aid the proficiency our web-slingin' hero navigates the open city (Peter Parker is a smart kid, right?)

@S4vagecabbage I would actually love if devs really went an extra mile and implemented Bionic Commando style web swing aiming. Flying between buildings while actually having to look around and aim accurately made me feel more like Spiderman than any of these new actual Spiderman games do.

I'd also love if they pretty much forgot about common thugs. Half of Spiderman's charm is the awesome villain gallery. These licence games always have only a bunch and even they mostly have 1 boss battle and that's it. I think they should implement the villains into random crimes and make the game feel like Spiderman sim. That when I'm casually webswinging and suddenly Green Goblin appears on his glider and attacks. No scripted "he only appears on this 1 street" and no "he has 3 attacks he uses in order and you can only damage him after his super attack" and other similiar thrash. But it isn't necessarily GG, it can also be Doc Ock, Venom, Mysterio, Electro, Scorpion, Hammerhead, Morbius, Kraven, Chameleon, Big Wheel, Beetle etc. etc. The thing is that when Spiderman beats these guys they never give up and will always come back. But in these games when I beat them I know I won't see them until I start a new story and then it will be identical to the last time.

@PrpleTrtleBuBum @S4vagecabbage What I can't understand is the downgrade in combat. In the first
Amazing Spider-Man game you got various moves (sometimes overpowered)
that allowed you to vary up combat. You could do these web tornadoes
and stealth take down multiple enemies in this one I feel like I'm
button mashing the square button because there are no other options.
http://gamekeygenerator.com Why is that? Why did they strip out some of the things that made the
ASM so amazing???

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a third-person action-adventure video game that builds on the story of the previous game with an alternative take on the events of the upcoming movie, while also giving players an enhanced, free-roaming web-slinging experience through a greatly expanded New York City.